Sunday, November 25, 2012

I was thinking about posting an entry about the Lithuanica in Blanchardstown. But there is also a another need. Lithuanica sells great rye bread of sorts, but what this country needs, at least for the Finnish involved, it's a bar where you're ordinary shot will not be Jägermeister. Don't get me wrong, I have had a few of those, and Jäger is good.

Originally made for the foreign guests (from Finnish point of view) during the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. It's basically Gin mixed with Grapefruit soda or Bitter Lemon (latter being the one usually sold as the 'house's long drink' [talon lonkero])

Vodka and Turkish Pepper mixed togerher. Vodka is supposed to be Koskenkorva, a Finnish spirit, which has no comparison anywhere around the world, ever, period. It's just that bad.

4. Fisu

Fisu is the same kind of mixture than Salmari, just change the Turkish Pepper to Fisherman's friend. Note from a bartender: if you know how to make Salmari, you should use less of Fisherman's friend.

5. Laku

Same as previous two, except this time the mixture with Vodka is Salmiakki, or as we scientific people call it, ammonium chloride made for eating. Also the Turkish Pepper has some of it inside. It's poisonous in large amounts, but hey, paraphrasing Queen: Too much ammonium chloride will kill you.

Other things are well covered here. One thing still keeps me curious. It is that we, in Finland, at least us professionals, think that Kopparberg is the most least attractive cider in the world, as it is so sweet and so full of sugar, that bars sell it here as an exotic option. More of an exotic substitute for cider. But hey, nobody is a prophet on their on land. Meaning that Bulmers is usually sold in Scandinavian countries as the prestigious Cider, that should be consumed with at least a pride of getting treated like a royal. And it usually costs about 5 euros per third of a liter in a bar. In Ireland you get the whole pint for that price, and you still get out with a little bit of change.

So get rid of that shite and bring in the good stuff. Or at least, never, ever, take Bulmers away.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I know and I've heard of restrictions stated over children's computer use, but Finland's authorities may have set the new boundaries of how far can you go bullying children. Two of the major Finnish newspapers reported of a case where a child's computer was confiscated by the police, because of downloading a song from a locally well known musician called Chisu. Hufvudstadsbladet (biggest newspaper in Finland targeted for swedish speakers) tells that Electronic Frontier of Finland (Effi) and Pirate Party (Piraattipuolue) criticized Finnish authorities for going to far.

Scandinavian's biggest Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported also that the local Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre in Finland TTVK's director Antti Kotilainen answered the critics by saying "of course we review every situation individually, but that in this case, it was better to let authorities to investigate what has happened." According to Helsingin Sanomat, Antti Kotilainen stated that it is not possible to load illegal music without knowledge.

Events started when last year's october family's daughter tried to preview to Chisu's new album. According to child's father, searches took her to the Pirate bay. Next spring the father got a letter from TTVK demanding 600 euros. TTVK's letter also demanded a nondisclosure. Father didn't oblige, but instead, wrote a letter back to the attorney. Letter included photographs of the bought album, and the tickets to the concert, which her child attended.

This case has been the story of many Finnish newspapers today and also it has gotten a lot of attention through facebook. As the father's story started to circulate, it seems that the piracy movement gets a lot of sympathy because of this. At least after this, anti-piracy movement might be more attuned to use softer means to fight piracy for a while.

Unfortunately there are no links in English at the moment, so you have to trust author's translations, or use some translator device. You will probably get more using Swedish links, because Finnish doesn't really translate to English using automatic translators. If I find some links in English, concerning this case, I will try to remember to update this blog.

Update #2. In Finland people under fifteen cannot be prosecuted. So this blog entry starts by throwing people a bit off. Sorry for wooing people. Girl's legal guardian, in this case her father, might still face trial.

Update #3. According to Torrentfreak, TTVK's english abbreviation is CIAPC.

Update #4. Electronic Frontier Finland seems to have made an English release stating that CIAPC is doing blackmaling in Finland.

Update #5. Boingboing seems to have used this entry as a part of their story. I might have had a good upper hand covering this story, because I can read Finnish newspapers in two languages. So I'll just crosslink their story here.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

In a country, where many think that god himself wrote the Bible, leave the choice to men shaving their beards, but don't leave a choice to women to decide what their fetuses do, is something that I refuse to accept. I'll probably have to explain that in the third of Moses, it is very clearly stated that any man who shaves his beard is to be stoned. After that I can continue with fetus, where there is no mention of it all in the Bible. At least I'm pretty certain of it, because I'm one of those rare people, who have actually read the book. Not the original, but one that is said to be the true word of God.

I'm very sad to call the passing of Savita Halappanavar a victory for something that should be legal in any case where you put human's life and choices in front of total destruction. I'm very sorry for using words of human and destruction in the same sentence, but I believe I have a very strong ground for it. Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Dublin yesterday to support the cause of at least giving people choice to decide for themselves what's happening in their body.

There's a good video on Irish Times giving a picture of the shock that locals are feeling here.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

What comes out if you throw a bucket of paint down the stairs? Do you expect it to be a beatiful painting or a symphony compared to a deaf artist like Beethoven? It could be either, at least if you're into John Cage. That is the feeling when I sometimes get when reading the so called poetry which I wrote when I was just starting to know what it feels like to be a teenager.

To make art, there has to be a purpose for it, an intention that makes you throw the bucket down the stairs. Otherwise is just senseless violence against either the bucket or the stairs. That is also why I love to read Steve Buttry's diary. He is a professional journalist, who also has the tendency to read everything he writes just to doublecheck his Craig's list. That kind of a journalism is dying, because everywhere, where journalists are preserved as the national heroes of the truth (or money, because in every country there is also approved the commentary against the mainstream journalism), an and journalists are to be expected to bulletwrite, bulletread, doublebullet-timeread, and go back in time again and read their to-be articles before they are already released. Common saying is that internet is killing journalism.

Is it?

I know there is some kind of a crisis going on in publishing houses. And it's not because there aren't good journalists in the world. It's because publishers don't get enough money to pay for journalists who can make money for publishers. The crisis is real. Specially when most papers do a lot of their income by advertising. But for some reason the big game is in the daily papers, even though there are journalists in papers which come out only once a month or so, and their journalists are being paid about the same, unless they work for BBC or FOX NEWS. Latter being, of course, the dream job of a playwright.

Coming back to Buttry. He is a professional, who also does his blog because of, as I believe, enthusiasm (and to make a brand of himself, but that's what bloggers do) for good, written English, which is a skill I am trying to (still) learn.

My points is that, even when you're an amateur blogger, you can always do better than just throwing your keyboard down the stairs when you actually have something to say about blogging.

Friday, November 9, 2012

This week Broadway's sensation American Idiot, based on the album of same name by Green Day, has been playing in Grand Canal Theatre also known by it's familiar name Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. According to Musicscene.ie's article it's set around Green Day's two albums "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown".

Few of my collegues are going there tonight. Here's a clip from American tv-show Live with Regis and Kelly promoting Broadway week in 2010.

Monday, November 5, 2012

I've heard and read a few times the saying of it's never too late - to jump into The Liffey. I somehow understand it as a way to see the bright side of things. The saying works well when everything seems to be too dark and it seems that there is no way out. There is always the Liffey.

During summertime it's actually a nobrainer if you're offered 50 euro for jumping in The Liffey. That's what happens in this video. The guys are next to The pint, nice two-storied pub in the central (with bands playing punk and metal upstairs - at least when I happen to be there). The jumping place is close to Tara Street station, and it's a good place to jump as the ladder is very close.